Things to Do in Newport Rhode Island (That Aren’t Just Eating)

If you ever want to see how the other half lived, you should invest in the Newport Mansion Tour. We chose the package with 5 mansions, and felt that was adequate. I don’t think you need to see ALL of them, just hit up the biggest ones, noted below.

You could do guided tours, but we did the self-guided ones. You walk in and get a headset with a tablet or phone attached and you can walk through the rooms and listen to the history at your own pace. We went mid-week to try to avoid peak tourist season, which I think helped. Only one of the five places was really crowded. Parking was easily available for all and there were signs to make everything easy.

• Rosecliff
• Marble House – Gorgeous marble throughout the mansion. Check out the backyard and the Chinese Tea House, too!
• The Elms
• The Breakers – This was the largest and most robust of the mansions.
• Green Animals Topiary Garden – This is an outdoor topiary garden with shrubs in all sorts of fun shapes (dinosaurs, chairs, and more). The gardens themselves are beautiful too, with tons of flowers, fruits, vegetables, and more. You likely won’t spend more than 30 minutes here though, and is it a bit of a drive away from the other mansions (which are all within 5 minutes of one another).

You can see a more in-depth review of all the mansions here in my previous blog post.

Do The Cliff Walk

This famous trail is a public access walkway where you can see the shoreline, geology, and mansions. I had done the Cliff Walk previously when I visited Rhode Island back in college with my roommates. We only did part of the walk, strategically including the parts that ran by the mansions and Salve Regina University for the scenery (it’s 3.5 miles in total each way if you’re interested in doing the full thing). We started at Forty Steps and ended once we passed the mansions.

My tips would be wear sunscreen (there is no shade except for a few short tunnels), wear sneakers (parts of the walk are on uneven rocks, so you don’t want to slip or break your ankle), and bring water with you.

We popped our heads in to The International Tennis Hall of Fame to see what it looked like, but didn’t have time to make a formal stop. If you’re into tennis history, it may be worth a visit. It’s also just really gorgeous to look at – the greenery is amazing and the grounds are very well-kept.